Local initiative promotes protection

There's a new acronym in town, and White Oak Land Conservation Society Board of Directors President Judy Haran is pretty pleased about it.

The Worcester County Conservation Initiative (WCCI) of the Trust for Public Land is an effort that's been lauded by local, state and federal government officials for its collaborative spirit, a union that seems logical when all the entities have the similar goal of protecting the environment.

Craig MacDonnell of Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit conservation organization, praised Haran's efforts to facilitate the union.

"Judy has about a thousand good ideas every day," MacDonnell said.

Haran is also, he said, "relentless." She kept e-mailing TPL, he said, until the deal was done.

Haran wanted TPL to dedicate a staffer to Worcester County to help foster land preservation deals and bring together municipalities and land trusts. To do so, Mac- Donnell told her, they'd have to raise the money for salaries for the first few years.

They're halfway to doing so, and expect to be finished fundraising and have a staffer on board within a few months, Haran said.

WCCI is a partnership of Trust for Public Land and local land trusts municipalities, foundations and local residents interested in conserving land and protecting it from unplanned growth, disappearing farms and forests, and the loss of community character.

The group plans to help protect against those threats by conserving more land in Worcester County and helping to identify sources of funding and aiding communities to identify land-use priorities.

TPL will be dedicating two part-time staff members to the Worcester County Conservation Initiative.

Haran is excited about TPL's local investment.

"It's the first time I've ever gotten a major statewide conservation organization to pay any serious attention to Worcester County," she said.

To donate to the fund for Worcester County Conservation Initiative staffing, visitwww.TPL.org.